Group Summon?

Do you think a group summon ability would help people be more willing to form groups?

I know there is a segment of the population who rarely partake in group quests. How large that segment is depends on a lot of factors like server population, planet population, etc. I don't really see people saying that they don't do them because they suck/are bad/not fun/etc...but many people are open about the fact that they do not enjoy the time it takes getting to/from the group quest area.

If you are off questing somewhere on a planet and answer the call to join a group you usually have to:
-leave an area you might have spent a while fighting your way to
-quick travel and/or flight point your way to the closest area to where the group quest is
-run/fight some more just to get to the starting area for the group quest
-fight your way back to where you left off when the group quest is done

There is A LOT of group content in this game but I'd bet most people don't even bother with it because of the time it takes just to get the process started. My suggestion would be a "Group Summon" ability:
1. Summons party members to the location of the summoner.
2. Places the player back in the area where they left off once the player leaves the group or the group is disbanded (similar to how WZs currently work).
3. Have some sort of CD (2 hours?) so people aren't abusing it for World PVP.

I'd be ok with a group summon with some stipulations
1. Only 4 man groups (no ops)
2. Only people on the planet can be summoned. NO summoning someone from the Fleet to Ilum, for example.
3. A group based CD. 30min or more. Puts a debuff on you, not allowing you to be summoned for X minutes to avoid abuse.

It's never happen since the RP and lore players would have a fit. But it's not something we REALLY needs either so... No biggie.

It's never happen since the RP and lore players would have a fit. But it's not something we REALLY needs either so... No biggie.

I agree with all the points you made. I am mainly talking about planet-side group content as there is a lot of it on each planet and players can be hesitant to leave their questing area to make it to the other side of the planet just to do a single group quest that may not be anywhere close to where all their other quests are taking place.

Why would RP'ers and lore players have a fit?
We already have quick travel in the game. We already have PvP queues which take you from your questing area, put you somewhere else (a Warzone), and then put you right back where you left off when the match is over. I'm not a RP/lore player so I don't know if I even understand their side of the argument.

I don't see it necessary. considering you get everywhere from the fleet pretty much and they are shortening the cooldown on fleet pass. they made it where you don't have to travel to planets for FPs /OPs for a reason.

Even if you could be summoned to the quest area, there's still the annoyance of having to travel back to where you were during questing, especially if you were deep in a cave or building somewhere.

I don't know if travel time is necessarily the main factor against forming groups for quests though. Once you start getting into the higher level areas, there just aren't that many people on the planet, and most of them at a spread of levels/progress. And that's not taking into account the general lack of tanks/healers, healers being more of a problem when there's a shortage since you can fudge around with DPS tanks.

I don't see it necessary. considering you get everywhere from the fleet pretty much and they are shortening the cooldown on fleet pass. they made it where you don't have to travel to planets for FPs /OPs for a reason.

I concur,

with SWTOR endgame already being incredibly instanced I see no reason for a group summon. It might be cool though if you could use your spaceship to fly straight to a Flashpoint.

with SWTOR endgame already being incredibly instanced I see no reason for a group summon. It might be cool though if you could use your spaceship to fly straight to a Flashpoint.

The op isn't talking about flashpoints or ops, they are talking about the group quests on planets (Heroic(2)/Heroic(4)'s). I have leveled several toons and I basically never do any of those quests for exactly the reason he stated, the time it takes to get to/from the quest area from wherever you happen to be questing is just not worth the reward of doing it. I also agree it would need to have the stipulations so that it is only used for that, and not for other uses. It wouldn't be that bad RPwise because it is essentially the same thing as quick travel, just with a specific location in mind (they could even make it share a CD with quick travel if they wanted).

I was just thinking it would be interesting if they just made it so you could QT to your party members. Then it would have the same restrictions and all, it's just your party member become bind points. But I'm sure people will complain blah blah blah that's stupid, it needs to be seperate so I can be lazy and not spend 2 minutes to QT back blah blah blah.

I recall myself and others lamenting the lack of a group summon style ability a number of times.
It would be nice if TOR had one.

Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot.
Who had nearly fought the Dragon of Angnor.
Who had almost stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol.
And who had personally wet himself, at the Battle of Badon Hill.

I'd be very curious to see the numbers on how many people actually do heroic quests in the current game. I know myself I've only done maybe 6-8 total on my 3 characters. I only do them basically when I see someone spamming and I notice I'm right by the area, otherwise I don't bother :P.

I'd be very curious to see the numbers on how many people actually do heroic quests in the current game. I know myself I've only done maybe 6-8 total on my 3 characters. I only do them basically when I see someone spamming and I notice I'm right by the area, otherwise I don't bother :P.

I would usually kick out a couple of LFG's in chat and check in guild to see if anyone wanted to do it whenever I picked one up.

Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot.
Who had nearly fought the Dragon of Angnor.
Who had almost stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol.
And who had personally wet himself, at the Battle of Badon Hill.